2.06.2005

Three Stories

1. Our friend NM called last night to invite us over for an evening of board games. Before he could get to the invitation part, he told me about their unexpected emergency visit to the animal hospital. While watching Jeopardy the other night, he and his wife heard a terrible electric buzzing sound in their kitchen. NM went into the kitchen and found their cat writhing on the floor with an electrical cord in its mouth. NM (and I quote) "screamed like a little girl." His wife was really calm, though, and together they managed to detach the cat from the cord and get it to the hospital for treatment. Apart from a little burn in its mouth and the loss of one (or more) of its lives, the cat is fine. And NM was laughing as he told the tale. For some reason this reminded me of...

2. Soon after Marie and BJ moved into their new house, they awoke one night to hear something flying around the room. Upon turning on the light, they realized that their uninvited guests were bats. Apparently, BJ grabbed some kind of stick and swatted the air wildly as the bats flew around their heads. Marie, of course, was useless, because she couldn't find her glasses... and just like me, she's blind as a bat...

3. The other night, Ben and I were in the Village. We were returning to the car, and when I opened the door and (attempted) to step from the curb to the car, I managed to fall. I fell for what seemed like a long time, pausing to grab the door only so it could open more and cause me to take a nice little rightward dive along with my downward plunge. I didn't hurt myself, but when I arighted myself and managed to get into the car on my second attempt, I confounded Ben even more by bursting into tears for about 25 seconds. I was so startled by the fall, and perhaps a little embarrassed.